We have finally polished off the Spanish Coast, and are in France. After almost 15 weeks cycling in total and 2,200 kms since arriving in Morocco 21 days ago, we are calling and end to the trip and are now training to Paris tomorrow. This means we now have around 400 kms left to cycle, and will make it back on Friday, slightly delayed due to the need to get Duncan an emergency passport!
In true tour spirit, we had a single rest day in Barcelona, and spent it doing a 3 hour weights session in the gym. Since then neither Duncan or I have been able to lift our heads when sleeping because of the pain in our abs. More work to do! However, a 140km day in the saddle is now second nature.
We saw the Tour de France up close and personal after a long 4 hour wait, still amazed by those guys' speed. After seeing a flat stage we fancied our chances of keeping up, but today we heard the winner averaged 36 kph on a 221 km ride up to Andorra, and have decided it is best left for the pro's! As always, it was not a comfortable day, it rained like hell all day, and all our clothes and kit got soaked, plus it was freezing. Duncan's expensive panniers leaked, drenching the contents. My cheap ones were fine!
The Tour will officially finish at the base of Nelson's Column in Trafalgar Square at about 7pm on Friday the 17th, and if anyone fancies coming along to see how dirty we have become, you are welcome! The plan is to have a few beers, then get a curry in.
Saturday, 11 July 2009
Tuesday, 7 July 2009
Barcelona and The Tour
After ten days blasting up the Costa Del Sol, we have made it to Barcelona. Really put in the hours to get here so fast, mostly motorway bashing to be honest which is a bit disappointing, but the fitness has reached a new peak! We can now cruise happily at 28 to 30, with pushes at faster speeds. In Valencia last Saturday, we encountered lots of very enthusiastic Spanish Club Cyclists, who generally went around in pelatons at 28 or so. We felt great overtaking them all with our panniers and bottom-end Sora groupsets! One lad looked fast and was cruising at 35kph, so we drafted him for a while. Serious pace!
Shortly after, a fourth member joined our little group. We couldn´t really see him, but I tried to talk to him a bit to encourage him to maintain the pace. Turns out my chat was wholely unneccesary because he burnt past us a bit later on. He must have been at least 45, maybe 15 stone too, but he could produce a significant number of watts! He was very impressed with our speed with our panniers and offered to buy us lunch. We dealt!
A good opportunity for me to practice my spanish, a tour of the city, a couple of beers, and two portions (each) of paella later we felt like heroes once again. A cheap lunch.
Now, 1,800kms since Casablanca, good fortune finds us coinciding with the Tour de France. You may have heard of this little race. At a mere 3,500km, it is about half the length of Leg One of our tour, but these guys are incredibly fast and we will be here in Barcelona for the end of Stage 6. We hope to see Lance in the Yellow Jersey schooling all the other competitors once again!
We will be home in about 10 days.
Shortly after, a fourth member joined our little group. We couldn´t really see him, but I tried to talk to him a bit to encourage him to maintain the pace. Turns out my chat was wholely unneccesary because he burnt past us a bit later on. He must have been at least 45, maybe 15 stone too, but he could produce a significant number of watts! He was very impressed with our speed with our panniers and offered to buy us lunch. We dealt!
A good opportunity for me to practice my spanish, a tour of the city, a couple of beers, and two portions (each) of paella later we felt like heroes once again. A cheap lunch.
Now, 1,800kms since Casablanca, good fortune finds us coinciding with the Tour de France. You may have heard of this little race. At a mere 3,500km, it is about half the length of Leg One of our tour, but these guys are incredibly fast and we will be here in Barcelona for the end of Stage 6. We hope to see Lance in the Yellow Jersey schooling all the other competitors once again!
We will be home in about 10 days.
Thursday, 2 July 2009
Robbery!
Yesterday was a bad day. Arrived in Alicante around 2pm and found a small park to rest for a couple of hours while it cooled down. Geoff got the mat out and had a siesta while i went and wandered around the marina. At this point somebody stole my handlebar bag, complete with camera, passport, credit cards ect. Geoff also had his credit cards stolen but his bag was not taken. We now have no cards so cant get any money out! I have no id so cant get back into the UK. Perfect.
The worst thing is that we have lost all of our photos past Cyprus, including a lot of really good ones from the middle east.
Despite this, the progress has been very good. In the past 5 days we have cycled 618km.
Last night we had a good night out to celebrate the thefts. Geoff thought it would be a good idea to dance on a table with his shirt off and nearly got kicked out of the club.
Duncs
Just thought I´d add a couple of comments. It´s bloody typical that after sleeping rough in the Albanian mountains, kipping on the streets of Beirut, hitch-hiking opposite the West Bank, negotiating with Ammanian businessmen, and getting harranged by angry Greek Shepards at daybreak, all without any incident, we let our guard down in the safety of the continent. No chance of recovery of any of our stuff, and the lack of money is a serious problem. We have a paltry 150 euros left which we had stashed in various panniers, and that´s going to have to last us for a while. We´re used to living on a tight budget, but when you cycle an average of 130km a day, in the heat of South Spain, you need to eat a lot of calories and drink a lot of fluids. As Duncan said, the worst bit is that the only photos we have of the past 6 weeks are what we uploaded (at greatly reduced quality) to the blog. We lost a lot of stunners, including Petra, Damascene markets, and "The Kite Runner" style towns in Jordan.
Needless to say, we´re pissed off!
Geoff
The worst thing is that we have lost all of our photos past Cyprus, including a lot of really good ones from the middle east.
Despite this, the progress has been very good. In the past 5 days we have cycled 618km.
Last night we had a good night out to celebrate the thefts. Geoff thought it would be a good idea to dance on a table with his shirt off and nearly got kicked out of the club.
Duncs
Just thought I´d add a couple of comments. It´s bloody typical that after sleeping rough in the Albanian mountains, kipping on the streets of Beirut, hitch-hiking opposite the West Bank, negotiating with Ammanian businessmen, and getting harranged by angry Greek Shepards at daybreak, all without any incident, we let our guard down in the safety of the continent. No chance of recovery of any of our stuff, and the lack of money is a serious problem. We have a paltry 150 euros left which we had stashed in various panniers, and that´s going to have to last us for a while. We´re used to living on a tight budget, but when you cycle an average of 130km a day, in the heat of South Spain, you need to eat a lot of calories and drink a lot of fluids. As Duncan said, the worst bit is that the only photos we have of the past 6 weeks are what we uploaded (at greatly reduced quality) to the blog. We lost a lot of stunners, including Petra, Damascene markets, and "The Kite Runner" style towns in Jordan.
Needless to say, we´re pissed off!
Geoff
Friday, 26 June 2009
Finally Some Photos
Here is one of our wild campsites in Morocco. Looks quite nice in the photo, but the ground was hard as iron and there were shed loads of burrs and spikes! Plus we had a bit of interest from a load of kids living in a nearby slum.
Just outside Cairo at Giza, checking out the pyramids on some very over-priced camels. We got ripped off so badly! They cost us over 30 quid for just a couple of hours. We must have been seriously dehydrated to get stung for so much!
Sphynx. Pretty standard. A couple of American girls hit on us at the Sphynx, wanting to follow us round all day. No joke! In a move Dan Maranhao would be proud of, we said we already had a couple of camels with us.
Schwalbe Marathon Plus tyres are not puncture-proof or flatless as they claim! Here a nail from some Jordanian road went right through the reinforcing and out the other side. Dead flat. A quick road-side repair and we were off in 15 minutes. Duncan got some more sweat out when reinflating in the 40 degree heat!
Here is a typical view of some desert cycling. Road goes into the distance, but what the photo doesn´t show is the heat from the headwind, which felt like a hundred hairdriers blowing over you. We both got very dehydrated that day, with thick slime lining our mouths and throats, and lips cracking.
Here is Geoff Lord, AKA "The Hero", who sorted us out with accommodation, food, and advice throughout our 5 day stint in North Cyprus. Great lad, and some stories probably aren´t best shared here!
A good recovery meal! A keg of lager, Turkey´s finest Efes no less, five frozen breaded cods each, and 500 grams of pasta. Lovely. Hopefully that fish went to our legs and heart, and that booze straight to our brains!
The weather girl on a channel called Star in Greece is amazing. She does some sort of dance while doing the weather, has a great uniform, and clearly has an erotic background. Perfect. I didn´t catch whether it was going to rain or not.Tuesday, 23 June 2009
The Beginning of the End
We've had a few comments about the amount of blue on the map. Let me say, yes, we are ashamed! However, now we are on the return leg, I can guarantee that there will not be any more, unless the powered vehicle in question is an ambulance!
Morocco is a very dirty place, particularly when you cannot wash and sleep rough for 3 nights in a row. We are covered in filth, but because we aren't anywhere near a tourist, amongst the rural lot we fit in quite well! We've just had 250kms of just flat, straight road surrounded by fields, it's been the most boring cycling yet.
Duncan has managed to pop his inflatable matress, and in Cairo caught a fairly robust fom of 'The Pharoah's Revenge', so he has been ejecting matter from all orifices and sweating profusely. In fact, on the plane to Morocco 4 days ago he had 4 of the 7 symptoms you should report to limit the spread of swine flu. Like a true hero, this hasn't stopped him doing 100+ kilometers each day! We just managed to get hold of some Gaviscon, woefully inadequate for the severity of his symptoms but hopefully that'll settle his bowels.
We are now out of spare inner tubes, so if we get another puncture before Spain, we're in trouble.
Keep checking the site because we have some excellent photos to upload when we get the chance!
Morocco is a very dirty place, particularly when you cannot wash and sleep rough for 3 nights in a row. We are covered in filth, but because we aren't anywhere near a tourist, amongst the rural lot we fit in quite well! We've just had 250kms of just flat, straight road surrounded by fields, it's been the most boring cycling yet.
Duncan has managed to pop his inflatable matress, and in Cairo caught a fairly robust fom of 'The Pharoah's Revenge', so he has been ejecting matter from all orifices and sweating profusely. In fact, on the plane to Morocco 4 days ago he had 4 of the 7 symptoms you should report to limit the spread of swine flu. Like a true hero, this hasn't stopped him doing 100+ kilometers each day! We just managed to get hold of some Gaviscon, woefully inadequate for the severity of his symptoms but hopefully that'll settle his bowels.
We are now out of spare inner tubes, so if we get another puncture before Spain, we're in trouble.
Keep checking the site because we have some excellent photos to upload when we get the chance!
Thursday, 18 June 2009
Islamic Weddings and Boat Cruises
We've done all the usual Cairo/Egypt stuff. Pyramids, museums, statues, camels etc... You've probably already done all that yourself so I'll cut to the more interesting stuff!
We took a riverboat on the Nile the other day, to see some belly-dancing and have a good meal in the evening. Cost us about 12 quid each, buffet and entertainment included. When we arrived, the place immediately didn't look like our kind of place. A load of chinese tourists and us, it was almost empty! But, turns out there was a huge Islamic wedding on the boat! Now, I've had the pleasure of attending a few weddings, and they're good fun, but mixing with all your family members can be pretty taxing. Islamic weddings are seriously lacking in Vitamin Booze, and those long rants by the boring uncle/stepmother/whatever are clearly even worse, and long-standing familial grievances even harder to bear! People looked miserable.
To make matters worse, in this culture public displays of affection are a real no-no. There is a tale going around of wife kissing her husband on the cheek as she left the car, when another woman driving past spat on her. This means the bride and groom pretty much can have a very sedate dance but nothing more, mostly they ignored each other. Looked to me like the worst possible wedding and a very tedious evening.
Then an Egyptian singer came to the floor as entertainment. He tried really hard to whip up the crowd, to no avail. There was one Chinese guy who had drunk a bottle of beer. He was absolutely smashed and started dancing on stage. No one followed him. You know that cringing feeling you get while watching The Office for the first time? It was like that.
The rest of the entertainment was ok, with a Japanese guy taking some seriously zoomed-in videos of the belly-dancers enormous breasts. Plural, he had a video camera, and a mobile for some on-the-move personal administration (he later went on stage, went for the grope, when the dancer prompty left). Another dancer did some really cool spinning stuff, but otherwise a it was a waste of money. Food was the same as you could get for maybe 2 or 3 quid in town.
Overall 3/5.
PS. Everyone in Cairo who talks to foreigners is either trying to rip them off directly, or trying to get business for friends or family members. Bunch of crooks, you have been warned!!
We took a riverboat on the Nile the other day, to see some belly-dancing and have a good meal in the evening. Cost us about 12 quid each, buffet and entertainment included. When we arrived, the place immediately didn't look like our kind of place. A load of chinese tourists and us, it was almost empty! But, turns out there was a huge Islamic wedding on the boat! Now, I've had the pleasure of attending a few weddings, and they're good fun, but mixing with all your family members can be pretty taxing. Islamic weddings are seriously lacking in Vitamin Booze, and those long rants by the boring uncle/stepmother/whatever are clearly even worse, and long-standing familial grievances even harder to bear! People looked miserable.
To make matters worse, in this culture public displays of affection are a real no-no. There is a tale going around of wife kissing her husband on the cheek as she left the car, when another woman driving past spat on her. This means the bride and groom pretty much can have a very sedate dance but nothing more, mostly they ignored each other. Looked to me like the worst possible wedding and a very tedious evening.
Then an Egyptian singer came to the floor as entertainment. He tried really hard to whip up the crowd, to no avail. There was one Chinese guy who had drunk a bottle of beer. He was absolutely smashed and started dancing on stage. No one followed him. You know that cringing feeling you get while watching The Office for the first time? It was like that.
The rest of the entertainment was ok, with a Japanese guy taking some seriously zoomed-in videos of the belly-dancers enormous breasts. Plural, he had a video camera, and a mobile for some on-the-move personal administration (he later went on stage, went for the grope, when the dancer prompty left). Another dancer did some really cool spinning stuff, but otherwise a it was a waste of money. Food was the same as you could get for maybe 2 or 3 quid in town.
Overall 3/5.
PS. Everyone in Cairo who talks to foreigners is either trying to rip them off directly, or trying to get business for friends or family members. Bunch of crooks, you have been warned!!
Saturday, 13 June 2009
Middle East Adventures
So much has happened since the last blog post, I can't describe it all so they'll just have to be memories and stories to tell.
Lebanon, Syria and Jordan have been amazing places to visit. It is sort of summer here (although I don't think they get anything that counts as winter), so there isn't many tourists around and it's been very, well, authentic let's say.
It's been quite warm and we've had without a doubt our hardest cycling yet. We have been drinking about 9 litres a day each, and are constantly thirsty. Had some close calls on the roads where we are in the middle of a desert and there is no way of getting more water.
Out of Beirut there was a short, 30km long, 1500m climb which at 39 centigrade caused some slight perspiration! 2 hrs later we'd nailed it though and got a few good photos of the desert terrain. Other highlights:
1. Bobbing like corks in the Dead Sea, which is wonderful for our health apparently
2. Talking to very rural arabs for directions out of a Palestinian refugee camp
3. Getting a full meal in for two, for 3 quid
4. Having a Syrian Bath in the oldest Hammam in the city/world
5. Getting free tea from some crazy old guy who once taught arabic in Cambridge
6. Listening to banter from people we've hitched lifts off about women drivers
7. Being marched straight to the male dining room in a restaurant and watching the women eat outside!
8. Seeing an American failing to get a Syrian visa, and who tried to rectify the situation after 5hrs waiting by telling them she'd come back and teach them English. We just turned up and got a visa in 10 minutes.
Very eventful few days and well worth the added expense, trouble and considerable calories! Going to Petra tomorrow, then flying to Cairo.
Lebanon, Syria and Jordan have been amazing places to visit. It is sort of summer here (although I don't think they get anything that counts as winter), so there isn't many tourists around and it's been very, well, authentic let's say.
It's been quite warm and we've had without a doubt our hardest cycling yet. We have been drinking about 9 litres a day each, and are constantly thirsty. Had some close calls on the roads where we are in the middle of a desert and there is no way of getting more water.
Out of Beirut there was a short, 30km long, 1500m climb which at 39 centigrade caused some slight perspiration! 2 hrs later we'd nailed it though and got a few good photos of the desert terrain. Other highlights:
1. Bobbing like corks in the Dead Sea, which is wonderful for our health apparently
2. Talking to very rural arabs for directions out of a Palestinian refugee camp
3. Getting a full meal in for two, for 3 quid
4. Having a Syrian Bath in the oldest Hammam in the city/world
5. Getting free tea from some crazy old guy who once taught arabic in Cambridge
6. Listening to banter from people we've hitched lifts off about women drivers
7. Being marched straight to the male dining room in a restaurant and watching the women eat outside!
8. Seeing an American failing to get a Syrian visa, and who tried to rectify the situation after 5hrs waiting by telling them she'd come back and teach them English. We just turned up and got a visa in 10 minutes.
Very eventful few days and well worth the added expense, trouble and considerable calories! Going to Petra tomorrow, then flying to Cairo.
Tuesday, 9 June 2009
Durex, Blast Damage, and Tanks
We arrived at Beirut airport at 11pm as expected. The place was pretty empty but they were obviously pretty paranoid about bombs because there was barely any seating and quite a few troops wandering around.
We went outside and slept rough behind a concrete pillar. Got about 30 minutes kip before a soldier woke us up by yelling. He didn't speak any English but it was clear he wanted us to move! We followed him back into the airport waiting room and got our heads down behind a bench. People were giving us some pretty funny looks!
Despite the annoying music and constant announcements regarding flights we got another couple of hours sleep before heading into Beirut centre at 8am.
We went outside and slept rough behind a concrete pillar. Got about 30 minutes kip before a soldier woke us up by yelling. He didn't speak any English but it was clear he wanted us to move! We followed him back into the airport waiting room and got our heads down behind a bench. People were giving us some pretty funny looks!
Despite the annoying music and constant announcements regarding flights we got another couple of hours sleep before heading into Beirut centre at 8am.
Now, we didn't have any maps and our arabic is pretty ropey at best, but after a good two hours cruising around some of the rougher parts of Beirut trying to find a hotel, and doing some excellent tank spotting, the tiredness took us, and we stopped for a coffee at Cafe Deek. Very local place full of Lebanese guys, perfect.
We sat down with a couple of espressos to wake us up, and asked about cheap hotels. I was placed next to a guy who 'speaks good english', and this guy was quite friendly but clearly a total nut-job! "We are shackled by the people, the trees around us" etc.. with crazy eyes boring into my head. I just nodded and agreed with everything he said! Phew, interesting first few hours.
We sat down with a couple of espressos to wake us up, and asked about cheap hotels. I was placed next to a guy who 'speaks good english', and this guy was quite friendly but clearly a total nut-job! "We are shackled by the people, the trees around us" etc.. with crazy eyes boring into my head. I just nodded and agreed with everything he said! Phew, interesting first few hours.
We found a hotel, got 3 hrs kip, then headed out for a meal. En route, a lady spoke to us asking us if we fancied auditioning for a Durex commercial. At first I thought this was an obvious scam for a mugging, but they were both arty, well-dressed, French types, and they detailed what we'd be doing so we went for it! Pretty fun actually, not as hands on as we were after, but lots of photos, profile shots, 'sexy' shots with our legs around a chair, that sort of thing. Then the acting part!!! Hilarious, we had to imagine we were reading a new and large bill, get frustrated or something, then our wife would come through the door and start stripping. We'd put the bill down, wink at the camera, and go off for some sex.
I got a good look at the ladies that had already auditioned on the director's laptop, they were stunners!! We acted our parts as well as we could, but, I'll be frank, I'm fairly confident we were shit.
I got a good look at the ladies that had already auditioned on the director's laptop, they were stunners!! We acted our parts as well as we could, but, I'll be frank, I'm fairly confident we were shit.
Had a meal at a cafe with some real character, dead cheap and good. We went back and tried to sleep, failing beacuse of the ridiculous heat, high humidity, and the 7,000 mosquitoes eating our faces.
Today we looked at the many damaged buildings around Beirut, fascinating place, it must have been totally destroyed by the civil war. Now it's half brand-new, half buildings destroyed by gunfire of all calibres. In the photo below, the Holiday Inn in the background was a favourite spot for snipers. The whole building is peppered with small arms fire, and there are some very obvious spots where RPG's have smashed in some poor fellow and his room!
Friday, 5 June 2009
Nicosean Kisses, Hitching, and Hezbollah
Cyprus has been great fun. We started off travelling across the island to try and get a ferry to Port Said in Egypt. Turns out thats a no-go, only cruises operate and they are expensive! You have to buy a cabin. Over a couple of beers we decided instead to check out ferries to Beirut.
The journey from North to South is about 120km so it took a while. In Nicosea, the divided capital that seperates the Turkish North from the Greek South, there were a couple of fairly hot students wandering around in nice tight white Erasmus t-shirts. We had a bit of an oogle at their arses then walked past. They pounced on us as we passed them
'Heyyyy.... can we get a photo with you! It's an erasmus thing, we need to get photos with as many strangers as possible!'
We agreed of course. They wanted to do it pecking our cheeks. As they were taking the photo of Duncan with the Spanish chick, Duncan dived in for the pull, maneuvering for the mouth-to-mouth dock. Totally shot down! Pretty funny though. My bird was a bit chubbier but she didn't think I was a creep!
Wednesdays are a bit slack here in Cyprus, all the Kombuses (cheap, communal taxis) and buses stopped going between towns at about 7pm. We got back a bit late and the buses had stopped. We talked to the world's slowest ticket collector about our options (he spoke Turkish, Arabic, and Kurd. We speak English, Spanish and French, our Kurdish is a bit weak, so you can imagine how it went), and ended up on some random bus. He was blabbering something about a Oto-Stop and then dumped us at a roundabout 20km from Kyrenia. Needless to say we ended up hitching.
After 10 minutes we got a lift with a couple of Turkish Uni students, 22 and 24 yrs old. As soon as we got in, they handed us a cold beer! Legends. The driver was also taking some serious swigs too so we followed suit. Very friendly lads though.
The next stage involves a flight to Beirut on Sunday. A monumental tactical error, turns out that is election day for one of the most closely-contended in Lebanese history. If Hezbollah get some more power it could seriously kick off there, and half the population absolutely hates the other half after their 15yr civil war. And they are all armed to the teeth. Also, all the hotels are full with returning citizens to vote.
We spoke to Geoff Lord's brother-in-law, who lived in Beirut for a long time, and he thinks our timing is sub-optimal. However, on Monday, our first full day, it should have cleared up a bit, and as long as we avoid the town square we should be ok.
'Heyyyy.... can we get a photo with you! It's an erasmus thing, we need to get photos with as many strangers as possible!'
We agreed of course. They wanted to do it pecking our cheeks. As they were taking the photo of Duncan with the Spanish chick, Duncan dived in for the pull, maneuvering for the mouth-to-mouth dock. Totally shot down! Pretty funny though. My bird was a bit chubbier but she didn't think I was a creep!
Wednesdays are a bit slack here in Cyprus, all the Kombuses (cheap, communal taxis) and buses stopped going between towns at about 7pm. We got back a bit late and the buses had stopped. We talked to the world's slowest ticket collector about our options (he spoke Turkish, Arabic, and Kurd. We speak English, Spanish and French, our Kurdish is a bit weak, so you can imagine how it went), and ended up on some random bus. He was blabbering something about a Oto-Stop and then dumped us at a roundabout 20km from Kyrenia. Needless to say we ended up hitching.
After 10 minutes we got a lift with a couple of Turkish Uni students, 22 and 24 yrs old. As soon as we got in, they handed us a cold beer! Legends. The driver was also taking some serious swigs too so we followed suit. Very friendly lads though.
The next stage involves a flight to Beirut on Sunday. A monumental tactical error, turns out that is election day for one of the most closely-contended in Lebanese history. If Hezbollah get some more power it could seriously kick off there, and half the population absolutely hates the other half after their 15yr civil war. And they are all armed to the teeth. Also, all the hotels are full with returning citizens to vote.
We spoke to Geoff Lord's brother-in-law, who lived in Beirut for a long time, and he thinks our timing is sub-optimal. However, on Monday, our first full day, it should have cleared up a bit, and as long as we avoid the town square we should be ok.
Here is a room in the Holiday Inn, it has a great view which is why it is a well-known sniper hang-out. Hopefully we should get a good price!
Here are some of Hezbollah's public relations team in Tripoli a little north of Beirut. They'll be out in force come Monday with a few Syrian and Iranian assault rifles. Shit. Luckily Duncan has a very sturdy pair of flipflops as his only pair of shoes so he can run really fast.
Tuesday, 2 June 2009
Cyprus
We've managed to make it across to Cyprus, and are currently reviewing options for the next leg. Most likely is a trip to Beirut in Lebanon and work around from there.
Geoff Lord (Dan Lord's dad) has sorted us out with a couple of awesome rooms, we each have a double bed and there is a full kitchen in his plush apartment in Kyrenia! Looking forward to cooking up some massive meals and gaining weight.
Cyprus is pretty hot. At the moment it is 37 degrees and we are dead keen for some midday cycling up the ridge to the South! Good training for the coming weeks. We have become quite adept at sweating, Geoff met us at the port and we cycled after his car to his apartment. We were absolutely beasted by him up the hills. We felt fine doing it but when we stopped in still air the sweat started streaming off us at a pretty disgusting rate. We need that baking hot wind to evaporate that stuff off us! No wonder we've had some fairly significant salt and urea crusting on our clothes and helmet. Some of those crystals are so large hippies would think they were healing.
All is well apart from some sweat rashes and minor burn of the noggin. I too have had quite a short trim in the name of hygiene (combined with an incredible Turkish shave), so the sun is annihilating my scalp. The yeasts are dying though so that is fine.
Geoff Lord (Dan Lord's dad) has sorted us out with a couple of awesome rooms, we each have a double bed and there is a full kitchen in his plush apartment in Kyrenia! Looking forward to cooking up some massive meals and gaining weight.
Cyprus is pretty hot. At the moment it is 37 degrees and we are dead keen for some midday cycling up the ridge to the South! Good training for the coming weeks. We have become quite adept at sweating, Geoff met us at the port and we cycled after his car to his apartment. We were absolutely beasted by him up the hills. We felt fine doing it but when we stopped in still air the sweat started streaming off us at a pretty disgusting rate. We need that baking hot wind to evaporate that stuff off us! No wonder we've had some fairly significant salt and urea crusting on our clothes and helmet. Some of those crystals are so large hippies would think they were healing.
All is well apart from some sweat rashes and minor burn of the noggin. I too have had quite a short trim in the name of hygiene (combined with an incredible Turkish shave), so the sun is annihilating my scalp. The yeasts are dying though so that is fine.
Saturday, 30 May 2009
Turkey's Fınale
The clımbs around the coast on our journey to Alanya got worse and worse.
Two day's back, we had a choıce between a 270km coastal hıghway, or a 170km ınland route to get to Antalya. We clearly chose the ınland one: "It would have to be some serıous hılls to make ıt worth an extra hundred k!!"
We were puffed clımbıng up a seemıngly endless road covered ın loose gravel, sweatıng profusely (ıt was mıdday but we need to traın for Egypt's heat), we'd already drank most of our water, and there were no shops anywhere ın sıght. An old man drıvıng a large van flagged us down. Hıs Englısh was poor, but he was clearly offerıng us a lıft. We buckled and took ıt!
We were dead lucky we dıd. That old man clearly knew what was comıng! The clımb kept goıng up to 1500m, vıa some ups and downs. Wouldn't have been so bad had we not started at a beach. Plus there were no shops for another 50k or so, we would probably have dıed of thırst! The old man was very frıendly and even bought us a coffee and a tea each at a coffee stop!
That ıs why a portıon of the map ıs now ın blue, to sıgnıfy we dıd not actually cycle that sectıon.
Recent cyclıng has been marvellous. Great roads, beautful scenery, and very flat along the coast. We dıd the last 30k ın 55 mınutes, and there was no wınd to help us eıther. Would have been quıcker were ıt not for the coastal clıffs. Legs feel strong! However, we found a small roadsıde gym and dıd some dıps and chıns a couple of kms out of town. Our arms are weak! 10 chıns ıs now a good effort (I'd normally laugh at someone who could manage that few), and the dıps are very hard! I thınk I dıd 5 or somethıng. We've got a lot of work to do to get back up to strength when we get back.
Two day's back, we had a choıce between a 270km coastal hıghway, or a 170km ınland route to get to Antalya. We clearly chose the ınland one: "It would have to be some serıous hılls to make ıt worth an extra hundred k!!"
We were puffed clımbıng up a seemıngly endless road covered ın loose gravel, sweatıng profusely (ıt was mıdday but we need to traın for Egypt's heat), we'd already drank most of our water, and there were no shops anywhere ın sıght. An old man drıvıng a large van flagged us down. Hıs Englısh was poor, but he was clearly offerıng us a lıft. We buckled and took ıt!
We were dead lucky we dıd. That old man clearly knew what was comıng! The clımb kept goıng up to 1500m, vıa some ups and downs. Wouldn't have been so bad had we not started at a beach. Plus there were no shops for another 50k or so, we would probably have dıed of thırst! The old man was very frıendly and even bought us a coffee and a tea each at a coffee stop!
That ıs why a portıon of the map ıs now ın blue, to sıgnıfy we dıd not actually cycle that sectıon.
Recent cyclıng has been marvellous. Great roads, beautful scenery, and very flat along the coast. We dıd the last 30k ın 55 mınutes, and there was no wınd to help us eıther. Would have been quıcker were ıt not for the coastal clıffs. Legs feel strong! However, we found a small roadsıde gym and dıd some dıps and chıns a couple of kms out of town. Our arms are weak! 10 chıns ıs now a good effort (I'd normally laugh at someone who could manage that few), and the dıps are very hard! I thınk I dıd 5 or somethıng. We've got a lot of work to do to get back up to strength when we get back.
Thursday, 28 May 2009
Turkish Cycling
Just a quıck post wıth a few comments about Turkısh Cyclıng.
Amazıngly beautıful vıews, but ıt ıs a whore.
The roads are rough, a mıxture of 2cm sharp aggregate and wet tar. The terraın ıs extremely hılly as well, the worst so far, wıth long clımbs ın hıgh heat and strong sun. It doesn't help that we stıll cannot eat anythıng near enough, we both have athletes foot, there are a great deal of moulds and yeasts growıng ın our water bottles (whıch has gıven us both some dıahorrea), and dehydratıon ıs a constant threat. Addıtıonally, the clımbs are so steep that we don't really have large enough rear cassettes to deal wıth them, forcıng our pulse well ınto the carbohydrate burnıng zome for around an hour at a tıme. Thıs has left us dızzy at the tops of the peaks and faıntıng ıs a genuıne concern whıch has affected us both at thankfully dıfferent tımes. The heat really suppresses your appetıte and we currently get about 2500 calorıes a day each. Wıth between 5 and 6 hrs a day ın the saddle peddlıng hard, and no body fat for a month now, thıs ıs stıll the number one ıssue of the tour. Upper body strength has suffered!
There was one patch where the clımb was so steep that the Turks had tunnelled ıt. We, however, were forced to clımb up to the col (bıcycles aren't allowed through the tunnel) whıch was hard work but gave us an amazıng wındy clıffsıde downhıll sectıon. Another epıc downhıll (second best of the trıp after one ın Croatıa) had us toppıng 73 kph, and overtakıng trucks! Don't want to take a whıpper at those speeds! Stıll doıng over 100km each day, wıth an average around 120.
Plan now ıs to head to Alanya, a port, then ferry over to Cyprus for a short rest, then hıt Egypt. Thıs trıp ıs far more epıc than eıther of us antıcıpated.
Amazıngly beautıful vıews, but ıt ıs a whore.
The roads are rough, a mıxture of 2cm sharp aggregate and wet tar. The terraın ıs extremely hılly as well, the worst so far, wıth long clımbs ın hıgh heat and strong sun. It doesn't help that we stıll cannot eat anythıng near enough, we both have athletes foot, there are a great deal of moulds and yeasts growıng ın our water bottles (whıch has gıven us both some dıahorrea), and dehydratıon ıs a constant threat. Addıtıonally, the clımbs are so steep that we don't really have large enough rear cassettes to deal wıth them, forcıng our pulse well ınto the carbohydrate burnıng zome for around an hour at a tıme. Thıs has left us dızzy at the tops of the peaks and faıntıng ıs a genuıne concern whıch has affected us both at thankfully dıfferent tımes. The heat really suppresses your appetıte and we currently get about 2500 calorıes a day each. Wıth between 5 and 6 hrs a day ın the saddle peddlıng hard, and no body fat for a month now, thıs ıs stıll the number one ıssue of the tour. Upper body strength has suffered!
There was one patch where the clımb was so steep that the Turks had tunnelled ıt. We, however, were forced to clımb up to the col (bıcycles aren't allowed through the tunnel) whıch was hard work but gave us an amazıng wındy clıffsıde downhıll sectıon. Another epıc downhıll (second best of the trıp after one ın Croatıa) had us toppıng 73 kph, and overtakıng trucks! Don't want to take a whıpper at those speeds! Stıll doıng over 100km each day, wıth an average around 120.
Plan now ıs to head to Alanya, a port, then ferry over to Cyprus for a short rest, then hıt Egypt. Thıs trıp ıs far more epıc than eıther of us antıcıpated.
Tuesday, 26 May 2009
Turkey - Country 15
Fınally hit turkey. The weather ıs a nıce barmy 30-35 most days, perfect for crankıng out 250 watts on the clımbs. Thankfully there ıs a very strong headwınd whıch keeps us cool! It really evaporates the sweats whıch ıs good for slımmıng down through dehydratıon.
Last couple of nıghts have been a bıt ınterestıng. We caught a ferry from Pıreas (near Athens) at 1900, arrıved at 0500 ın Kos. Saved us a bıt on accomodatıon and the ferry was awesome. A good, long trıp wıthout any effort requıred, made a nıce change! 50 euros each.
On arrıval at Kos we realısed we had no map, no lıghts for the bıkes, ıt was pıtch black and we'd just woken up and were quıte dısorıentated. We found a park nearby and bedded down for a couple of hours more sleep. We were woken by the sound of chıldren arrıvıng at school, whıch was a few meters away. We looked suıtably rough, ın a park on the dırt, Duncan ın hıs bag and me just wearıng the same clothes I've worn for 55 days. It goes wıthout sayıng we stank of pıss too. The parents were not ımpressed.
Overall about 3 hrs sleep.
Kos was an awesome party town and we nearly stayed to try and fınd a job for a month or so. Eventually though we got a ferry to Bodrum ın Turkey, wandered around the market, had a kebab (pretty much all we ate that day apart from some chocolate), then bashed up the hıll for some wıld campıng. We camped on a load of thıstles and very sharp burrs, and ıt was roastıng hot as usual ın the tent. A very hot, ıtchy, sweaty nıght.
Overall about 3 hrs sleep agaın. Very low qualıty too.
So today, we're both quıte tıred and have fought a severe headwınd and terrıble qualıty roads to get here. Turkey ıs a bıt cheaper than Greece though so that ıs good.
We haven't washed ın 3 full days now and ın thıs heat that ıs not a good thıng.
Last couple of nıghts have been a bıt ınterestıng. We caught a ferry from Pıreas (near Athens) at 1900, arrıved at 0500 ın Kos. Saved us a bıt on accomodatıon and the ferry was awesome. A good, long trıp wıthout any effort requıred, made a nıce change! 50 euros each.
On arrıval at Kos we realısed we had no map, no lıghts for the bıkes, ıt was pıtch black and we'd just woken up and were quıte dısorıentated. We found a park nearby and bedded down for a couple of hours more sleep. We were woken by the sound of chıldren arrıvıng at school, whıch was a few meters away. We looked suıtably rough, ın a park on the dırt, Duncan ın hıs bag and me just wearıng the same clothes I've worn for 55 days. It goes wıthout sayıng we stank of pıss too. The parents were not ımpressed.
Overall about 3 hrs sleep.
Kos was an awesome party town and we nearly stayed to try and fınd a job for a month or so. Eventually though we got a ferry to Bodrum ın Turkey, wandered around the market, had a kebab (pretty much all we ate that day apart from some chocolate), then bashed up the hıll for some wıld campıng. We camped on a load of thıstles and very sharp burrs, and ıt was roastıng hot as usual ın the tent. A very hot, ıtchy, sweaty nıght.
Overall about 3 hrs sleep agaın. Very low qualıty too.
So today, we're both quıte tıred and have fought a severe headwınd and terrıble qualıty roads to get here. Turkey ıs a bıt cheaper than Greece though so that ıs good.
We haven't washed ın 3 full days now and ın thıs heat that ıs not a good thıng.
Friday, 22 May 2009
Athena
After 53 days of calorie deficient cycling we have made it to Athens. It has not been that cultural or civilized but we have arrived and feel superior to all the other grockles that have flown their way in. The next legs of the trip are a little different as we actually have to pay for transport. We are getting a ferry to the island of Kos and then another ferry to Bodrum(Turkey). We will cycle a few days in Turkey and then get a ferry to Cyprus.
My Bosnian haircut does not fare well in the Greek sun and so the scalp is a little burnt!
Yesterday Geoff had the first 'proper' crash of the tour and picked up a spot of gravel rash! He was drafting me (following very closely to gain advantage due to lower air resistance) down a hill when a large lorry coming the other way caused me to slow considerably (a result of the wind created by the lorry) and he crashed into my rear wheel and fell off at about 40kph. His helmet saved a few brain cells and must now be replaced.
Today we actually spent some money and did the normal touristy stuff (Acropolis, Agora ect).
Tomorrow we will recover from the other touristy stuff, Ouzo.
Duncan
My Bosnian haircut does not fare well in the Greek sun and so the scalp is a little burnt!
Yesterday Geoff had the first 'proper' crash of the tour and picked up a spot of gravel rash! He was drafting me (following very closely to gain advantage due to lower air resistance) down a hill when a large lorry coming the other way caused me to slow considerably (a result of the wind created by the lorry) and he crashed into my rear wheel and fell off at about 40kph. His helmet saved a few brain cells and must now be replaced.
Today we actually spent some money and did the normal touristy stuff (Acropolis, Agora ect).
Tomorrow we will recover from the other touristy stuff, Ouzo.
Duncan
Saturday, 16 May 2009
Albanian Mountain Dogs and Greek Taverns
Well, we've made it to Greece, country 14! Had a couple of close calls en route though.
First off was an interesting night in the Albanian mountains in the south. For lunch, we met a local who 'imported' cars (very likely), and lived in Welwyn Garden City.
Happy Albanian: "The Albanians are extremely friendly and you should try to find helpful people if you get in trouble. But, at all costs, always stay in the middle of cities! Always. The people are extremely friendly, but NEVER sleep outside big cities."
Hmm... that made us feel more worried than before we spoke to him! And, true to the form of the trip, that night we pressed on into the middle of nowhere in the mountains in the south before Greece. It was getting dark and we needed to find somewhere to sleep. We slept rough in the mountains surrounded by very rural looking farmers and tiny huts. We thought we were hidden but some damned dog found us and barked away all night. Thankfully it was probably a stray, but I was extremely tempted to kill it. The locals were not friendly around here and we did NOT want to get spotted. Duncan's earplugs sorted us out. An old farmer found us in the morning but Duncan sweet-talked him round!
Albania saw our first breakages due to the awful roads. One spoke snapped on Duncan's rear wheel, and I got a hole in my inner tube on re-inflation after a particularly bad stretch of 'motorway'.
The next night we pressed on another 110km to the border, then 10k past it into some very Greek little village, Delvinaki. (pop. 754) Old stairs with weeds growing through them, lots of little shrines etc. Quite cool! We had only about 25 euros but there was a bank so we stayed at a tavern. The lady was very hospitable and even went to the shops to buy some pork chops for her to cook and us to eat. We stank so much, I honestly can't put it into words! In the morning we had to pay, but the bank was closed and they didn't take cards. The bill came to 40 euros. She was stressed from some meeting she was hosting, and nobody spoke english.
We found out that 25k down (very downhill) the road was another village, Kalpaki, which had a cash machine. A 50k morning ride was just the job to clear the cobwebs! However, the cash machine was broken so on Duncan's suggestion we bought a bottle of Glenfiddich.
The stressed lady was not too friendly when we couldn't pay, and we were returning almost empty-handed, but on the way back, Duncan had some interesting ideas for how to smooth over the situation.
"Hey, Geoff, how about I take a whipper and graze up my leg or arm or something?"
"Damn, duncs, I thought I was ruthless! That's an awesome idea."
"Well, I've been thinking of how to do it with the least amount of pain."
...
Luckily, the whisky went down an absolute charm and they loved us. They even gave us a free beer, said they were impressed with our fitness ("some greek meaning 'only 3 hrs?!?!'" We didn't tell them we did it in 2hrs15 and had a 45min breakfast), and then tried to give us our money back saying we'd need it for the days ahead. Awesome soft skills and we turned that situation round nicely!
434kms to Athens.
First off was an interesting night in the Albanian mountains in the south. For lunch, we met a local who 'imported' cars (very likely), and lived in Welwyn Garden City.
Happy Albanian: "The Albanians are extremely friendly and you should try to find helpful people if you get in trouble. But, at all costs, always stay in the middle of cities! Always. The people are extremely friendly, but NEVER sleep outside big cities."
Hmm... that made us feel more worried than before we spoke to him! And, true to the form of the trip, that night we pressed on into the middle of nowhere in the mountains in the south before Greece. It was getting dark and we needed to find somewhere to sleep. We slept rough in the mountains surrounded by very rural looking farmers and tiny huts. We thought we were hidden but some damned dog found us and barked away all night. Thankfully it was probably a stray, but I was extremely tempted to kill it. The locals were not friendly around here and we did NOT want to get spotted. Duncan's earplugs sorted us out. An old farmer found us in the morning but Duncan sweet-talked him round!
Albania saw our first breakages due to the awful roads. One spoke snapped on Duncan's rear wheel, and I got a hole in my inner tube on re-inflation after a particularly bad stretch of 'motorway'.
The next night we pressed on another 110km to the border, then 10k past it into some very Greek little village, Delvinaki. (pop. 754) Old stairs with weeds growing through them, lots of little shrines etc. Quite cool! We had only about 25 euros but there was a bank so we stayed at a tavern. The lady was very hospitable and even went to the shops to buy some pork chops for her to cook and us to eat. We stank so much, I honestly can't put it into words! In the morning we had to pay, but the bank was closed and they didn't take cards. The bill came to 40 euros. She was stressed from some meeting she was hosting, and nobody spoke english.
We found out that 25k down (very downhill) the road was another village, Kalpaki, which had a cash machine. A 50k morning ride was just the job to clear the cobwebs! However, the cash machine was broken so on Duncan's suggestion we bought a bottle of Glenfiddich.
The stressed lady was not too friendly when we couldn't pay, and we were returning almost empty-handed, but on the way back, Duncan had some interesting ideas for how to smooth over the situation.
"Hey, Geoff, how about I take a whipper and graze up my leg or arm or something?"
"Damn, duncs, I thought I was ruthless! That's an awesome idea."
"Well, I've been thinking of how to do it with the least amount of pain."
...
Luckily, the whisky went down an absolute charm and they loved us. They even gave us a free beer, said they were impressed with our fitness ("some greek meaning 'only 3 hrs?!?!'" We didn't tell them we did it in 2hrs15 and had a 45min breakfast), and then tried to give us our money back saying we'd need it for the days ahead. Awesome soft skills and we turned that situation round nicely!
434kms to Athens.
Wednesday, 13 May 2009
Poulets and Motels
The weather is really hot now, so we spent last night in a Motel on the Albanian Highway. Bit of a dump, but far better than we are used to and I finally got a decent night's sleep.
Popped into Tirane today, and the road laws are basically non-existent. Dunc and I caused a small pile-up on the way out, people look at us because we are funny-looking, and there was a large collision about 5 meters behind us. Three cars involved, definately a write-off, and we were close to loosing a leg. Looks like landmines are not the only danger to our limbs!
There are lots of stolen cars here with British and Italian plates. Anyone owning the car with custom plates N3 ALP, your car is in Tirane being driven by a guy who doesn't speak English. The Albanians love a Land Rover Discovery! We also saw a Bentley. The locals also all wear three-piece suits even if it is over 50 yrs old and 30 degrees centigrade. In a restaurant we asked for two chicken meals like the ones on a nearby table, and got served two whole chickens with no cutlery or other food. Lovely! With a half-litre beer it came to about 4 euros each, which we thought wasn't too bad.
Also we saw the roughest town so far today on the outskirts of Tirane. Unbelievably dirty and a marketplace that has to be seen to be believed. We thought it was cool and sat down for some weird dough soaked in honey which was quite rank. In fact it was so bad we chucked half of it in the bin (i.e. on the floor). First time on the tour we didn't eat food we had.
Popped into Tirane today, and the road laws are basically non-existent. Dunc and I caused a small pile-up on the way out, people look at us because we are funny-looking, and there was a large collision about 5 meters behind us. Three cars involved, definately a write-off, and we were close to loosing a leg. Looks like landmines are not the only danger to our limbs!
There are lots of stolen cars here with British and Italian plates. Anyone owning the car with custom plates N3 ALP, your car is in Tirane being driven by a guy who doesn't speak English. The Albanians love a Land Rover Discovery! We also saw a Bentley. The locals also all wear three-piece suits even if it is over 50 yrs old and 30 degrees centigrade. In a restaurant we asked for two chicken meals like the ones on a nearby table, and got served two whole chickens with no cutlery or other food. Lovely! With a half-litre beer it came to about 4 euros each, which we thought wasn't too bad.
Also we saw the roughest town so far today on the outskirts of Tirane. Unbelievably dirty and a marketplace that has to be seen to be believed. We thought it was cool and sat down for some weird dough soaked in honey which was quite rank. In fact it was so bad we chucked half of it in the bin (i.e. on the floor). First time on the tour we didn't eat food we had.
Tuesday, 12 May 2009
Montenegro and Albania
We blasted through Montenegro which is a shame, as it was a beautiful country and had lovely mountains and a gorgeous coast. It was cheap too, and has the Euro. Well worth a look if you are nearby.
We are now in Albania, which is a significant change once you cross the border. Much more crap everywhere and the place is DUSTY. I won't bother saying it is hot anymore because obviously it is and it is going to get worse. Within the first kilometer we had to stop to allow a large herd of sheep past, and as soon as we crossed the border, the road turned into a gravel pit.
Everyone seems to drive a Mercedes Benz for some reason, and the pill-boxes are everywhere as predicted. The place isn't even that cheap for a country with a GDP per person of $5800. We are going to cycle as far and as fast as possible to hit Greece.
As we cycle along, we get a hell of a lot of cheers from groups of street kids who seem to love us. Some are clearly learning English at school and say basic phrases. In the slummier parts, I'd be seriously dubious about leaving our bikes for any length of time. It is SERIOUSLY rough, maybe even worse than the Kenyan rubbish-dump slums. Definitely among the worst either of us has seen.
Wild camping has changed significantly since, say, Belgium. We now have to be very careful of Schlangens (as the locals call them), and the spiders are much bigger now. Nippers, too! The dust means we are constantly covered in a layer of grime from sweat and suncream, and in the mornings we are sticky as hell. The best part is all of that is only going to get worse!
11 days to Athens, predicted.
We are now in Albania, which is a significant change once you cross the border. Much more crap everywhere and the place is DUSTY. I won't bother saying it is hot anymore because obviously it is and it is going to get worse. Within the first kilometer we had to stop to allow a large herd of sheep past, and as soon as we crossed the border, the road turned into a gravel pit.
Everyone seems to drive a Mercedes Benz for some reason, and the pill-boxes are everywhere as predicted. The place isn't even that cheap for a country with a GDP per person of $5800. We are going to cycle as far and as fast as possible to hit Greece.
As we cycle along, we get a hell of a lot of cheers from groups of street kids who seem to love us. Some are clearly learning English at school and say basic phrases. In the slummier parts, I'd be seriously dubious about leaving our bikes for any length of time. It is SERIOUSLY rough, maybe even worse than the Kenyan rubbish-dump slums. Definitely among the worst either of us has seen.
Wild camping has changed significantly since, say, Belgium. We now have to be very careful of Schlangens (as the locals call them), and the spiders are much bigger now. Nippers, too! The dust means we are constantly covered in a layer of grime from sweat and suncream, and in the mornings we are sticky as hell. The best part is all of that is only going to get worse!
11 days to Athens, predicted.
Sunday, 10 May 2009
Bosnia and Herzegovinia
Well, we got into Bosnia which we were pretty chuffed about. The weather has been getting seriously hot recently so Duncs decided to get a trim. We went into this random barbers, and the barber didn't speak any english at all, and just pointed to a chair.
Duncan sat down very obediently, then the barber just set to work with the trimmers. Took the whole lot off! Standard. Duncan now needs to sun-cream his scalp to avoid lovely helmet-pattern sunburn on the old noggin.
We got the exchange rate wrong, thought everything was amazingly cheap, and then ended up blowing 100 quid, not cool. Still, it was a hell of a day! Great food, and it was still good value actually. Lovely shingle beach and the weather has been incredible.
Duncan sat down very obediently, then the barber just set to work with the trimmers. Took the whole lot off! Standard. Duncan now needs to sun-cream his scalp to avoid lovely helmet-pattern sunburn on the old noggin.
We got the exchange rate wrong, thought everything was amazingly cheap, and then ended up blowing 100 quid, not cool. Still, it was a hell of a day! Great food, and it was still good value actually. Lovely shingle beach and the weather has been incredible.
Thursday, 7 May 2009
Progress Report
Here are the last few days progress:
Day 28: Linz to camping by the river: 151km - Austria
Day 29: Wilding on the Danube to Bratislava: 145km - Slovakia
Day 30: Rest day in Bratislava
Day 31: Bratislava to Rough car park: 125km - Hungary
Day 32: Car park to Rape field: 125km - Croatia via Slovenia
Day 33: Rape field to Zagreb: 110km
Day 34: Zagreb to Camping by Railway: 80km
Day 35: Wild camping to Senj: 99km
Day 36: Senj to Camping off the road: 67km
Day 37: Camping off the road to Illegal camping: 96km
Day 38: Illegal to Split: 165km
Day 39: Rest day in Split
Day 28: Linz to camping by the river: 151km - Austria
Day 29: Wilding on the Danube to Bratislava: 145km - Slovakia
Day 30: Rest day in Bratislava
Day 31: Bratislava to Rough car park: 125km - Hungary
Day 32: Car park to Rape field: 125km - Croatia via Slovenia
Day 33: Rape field to Zagreb: 110km
Day 34: Zagreb to Camping by Railway: 80km
Day 35: Wild camping to Senj: 99km
Day 36: Senj to Camping off the road: 67km
Day 37: Camping off the road to Illegal camping: 96km
Day 38: Illegal to Split: 165km
Day 39: Rest day in Split
Some Photos
Croatia has landmines!! We didn´t know this so we have to be a bit more careful when it comes to wild camping and relieving ourselves in the woods. Wouldn`t want to loose a leg.
Here is the measure of rum we had on our most miserable night so far. We felt a little bit sorry for ourselves, and knew that kipping on the side of a main road without a tent could get a little rough, we so decked half a bottle of rum to help us doze. Duncan clearly was very happy with the arrangement!
Here we are preparing for another night on the rough. We just kipped under the stars, and little did we know it was about to blow a gale all night.
That night I don`t think it`s an exagguration to say we got absolutely no sleep whatsoever. Here I am in the bag in the morning trying desperatly to get a wink in the blazing sunshine. Notice the rocks on the pannier to stop them blowing away in the night! Gales.
Not all bad though, here is a standard view from the mountain road along the coast. Croatia is wonderful for the sights.
Croatia also has a lot of wild cats. Here is a kitten playing with my stuff. The little bastard tried to climb the tent again and again in the night, but a boot to the head sorted the git out. Had to be done, and I also club seals.
Here is Duncan getting his sweat on after a few spoons of that famous Hungarian paprika in his goulash! We have a much better photo but Duncan doesnt like it because he looks chubby.
Some of the roads are pretty uneventful. On one of our 150km days along the Danube, we trekked along a disused railway line for AGES. The view was like you can see above for many, many kilometers.
Duncan each morning has to liberally apply anti-mould cream to his ball-sack and arsehole. I caught him in the act!! Remember, Duncan, more than three strokes counts as a wank!
Hungary had the best value restaurants of the trip so far! Here, a litre of beer, with a soup starter, and a main course of goulash (which we LOVE), cost us each a mere 4.50 euros. Good for the daily budget.
Duncan has by far the most impressive leg tan lines. It looks a bit burnt in this photo because, well, it most definately was. Now it is a more golden brown so he thinks he looks like a Greek God.
Monday, 4 May 2009
A bit of misery before the Coast
We have now arrived at the Croatia coast, and are making good progress along the coastal highway. Before you think it is all fun and games though, let me tell you a bit about the past few days.
Yesterday I was extremely pissed off. This is because the day contained a couple of large climbs, all the while threateneing to piss it down on us. One pass was 888m, which is like climbing Scarfell Pike. With a bike, fully loaded for a 4 month tour. We are dragging around 40% of our bodyweight, and those climbs do not come easily. Add to this that it was freezing cold, something we were not expecting. In fact, we had no idea we would be spending so much time at altitude. The one thing climbing is good for, the descents, are brutal with a 60 kph wind chilling your bones, while you can`t produce heat because it`s a windy path and you can`t peddle.
If the idea of climbing Scarfell twice with a heavily loaded bike isn`t enough for you, imagine doing it after an 80km ride through rolling hills. If this still isn`t enough, we hadn`t had any sleep to speak of for the past 2 nights, one night I woke up for a piss at 4.30am and I discovered we were in a freezing cloud. The violent shivers made sure we didn`t get a wink past 2am.
Still not enough? Imagine doing it day after day for 5 days, with little food because all the towns are tiny little villages (one guy we saw was about to slaughter a goat for food. Some of these villages are basically just subsistance farmers), and even the few tiny shops were closed because it was a Sunday and also it was May Week weekend.
None of this stopped us covering some serious distance, in part because there is absolutely nothing else to do when all the shops are closed, and we have no money anyway. It takes your mind off the nagging hunger.
Body fat is now non-existent. We are surviving off biceps and deltoids.
This evening, Duncan is pissed off instead, so we are having a bottle of rum to sooth our tired bodies and minds.
Yesterday I was extremely pissed off. This is because the day contained a couple of large climbs, all the while threateneing to piss it down on us. One pass was 888m, which is like climbing Scarfell Pike. With a bike, fully loaded for a 4 month tour. We are dragging around 40% of our bodyweight, and those climbs do not come easily. Add to this that it was freezing cold, something we were not expecting. In fact, we had no idea we would be spending so much time at altitude. The one thing climbing is good for, the descents, are brutal with a 60 kph wind chilling your bones, while you can`t produce heat because it`s a windy path and you can`t peddle.
If the idea of climbing Scarfell twice with a heavily loaded bike isn`t enough for you, imagine doing it after an 80km ride through rolling hills. If this still isn`t enough, we hadn`t had any sleep to speak of for the past 2 nights, one night I woke up for a piss at 4.30am and I discovered we were in a freezing cloud. The violent shivers made sure we didn`t get a wink past 2am.
Still not enough? Imagine doing it day after day for 5 days, with little food because all the towns are tiny little villages (one guy we saw was about to slaughter a goat for food. Some of these villages are basically just subsistance farmers), and even the few tiny shops were closed because it was a Sunday and also it was May Week weekend.
None of this stopped us covering some serious distance, in part because there is absolutely nothing else to do when all the shops are closed, and we have no money anyway. It takes your mind off the nagging hunger.
Body fat is now non-existent. We are surviving off biceps and deltoids.
This evening, Duncan is pissed off instead, so we are having a bottle of rum to sooth our tired bodies and minds.
Tuesday, 28 April 2009
The Push East - Bratislava
We are now in Bratislava, having entered our seventh country so far, out of probably 19. We bashed straight along the Danube, which is MASSIVE, but made the journey relatively hill-free.
The past two days have been fairly large. We felt pretty good after Linz, and the key to covering distance, we've discovered, is to eat constantly throughout the day. Our legs are reasonable engines now, we just need to make sure they have fuel. So, the past couple of days, we pressed out 300km, all in the most severe headwind we've felt so far (20-30 kph). This decimated our average speed to a mere 21kph and saps morale and energy. Still, it felt good knowing we can do 150km a day in adverse conditions.
While checking the map of Austria, we were wondering where Vienna was, we couldn't see it anywhere:
Duncan: "Hey, Geoff, am I going mad? I can't find Vienna anywhere!"
Geoff: "Maybe it's quite small. I think it's somewhere in the middle."
Duncan: "Weird. Nevermind. Hey look, Wien is bloody massive! Probably a dump, lets blast through it."
We did blast through Wien, in about half an hour, stopping only at a Lidl for some much needed energy. Turns out Wien is Vienna, and we just missed one of the best cities of the trip. How dumb is that?!
Bratislava we thought would be an industrial heartland full of gangs and crime. It's actually really nice, the government has obviously laid down a lot of bones to sort out the roads and clean the place up. Still a fair bit of construction going on though.
Here's some 'interesting facts' about Albania from a book on Europe. No joke:
Albania is famous for having over 700,000 nearly invulnerable concrete bunkers from the Soviet era.
Did you know? Albania's streets, even the mountain passes, are all lined with discarded plastic bags.
Gun ownership in Albania is extremely high, fuelled by the resurgence of blood feuds. This leads to a endless cycle of violence and murder which stops only when the two families reconcile.
We need to up our daily kilometers to about 300 so we can bash through that place in a day!
The past two days have been fairly large. We felt pretty good after Linz, and the key to covering distance, we've discovered, is to eat constantly throughout the day. Our legs are reasonable engines now, we just need to make sure they have fuel. So, the past couple of days, we pressed out 300km, all in the most severe headwind we've felt so far (20-30 kph). This decimated our average speed to a mere 21kph and saps morale and energy. Still, it felt good knowing we can do 150km a day in adverse conditions.
While checking the map of Austria, we were wondering where Vienna was, we couldn't see it anywhere:
Duncan: "Hey, Geoff, am I going mad? I can't find Vienna anywhere!"
Geoff: "Maybe it's quite small. I think it's somewhere in the middle."
Duncan: "Weird. Nevermind. Hey look, Wien is bloody massive! Probably a dump, lets blast through it."
We did blast through Wien, in about half an hour, stopping only at a Lidl for some much needed energy. Turns out Wien is Vienna, and we just missed one of the best cities of the trip. How dumb is that?!
Bratislava we thought would be an industrial heartland full of gangs and crime. It's actually really nice, the government has obviously laid down a lot of bones to sort out the roads and clean the place up. Still a fair bit of construction going on though.
Here's some 'interesting facts' about Albania from a book on Europe. No joke:
Albania is famous for having over 700,000 nearly invulnerable concrete bunkers from the Soviet era.
Did you know? Albania's streets, even the mountain passes, are all lined with discarded plastic bags.
Gun ownership in Albania is extremely high, fuelled by the resurgence of blood feuds. This leads to a endless cycle of violence and murder which stops only when the two families reconcile.
We need to up our daily kilometers to about 300 so we can bash through that place in a day!
Saturday, 25 April 2009
Trip Update
Well, we've been doing a bit more planning on our rest day in Linz, and it looks like the Alps are a no-go. The weather is the problem, forecasts show a temperature in Linz or Graz of around 0 degrees at night, which means our three days wild camping in the Alps at altitude will be very definately sub-zero.
We don't have the kit to deal with that sort of cold, we've had a few nights around the 4 degree mark, and we got very little sleep due to the violent shivering! Now, we both love a bit of suffering, but there the risk of death is just a little bit too high.
So we're taking a detour and adding some more km's!! We'll go via Bratislava and Zagreb, hitting both Slovakia and Hungary. I'm keen to pop round Lake Balaton again, that place is beautiful, but it's a long way East from the Adriatic.
We feel a little bit like wimps but we think this is the best course of action. Look out for our new route (which won't overlap the green) as it comes!
Geoff and Duncan
We don't have the kit to deal with that sort of cold, we've had a few nights around the 4 degree mark, and we got very little sleep due to the violent shivering! Now, we both love a bit of suffering, but there the risk of death is just a little bit too high.
So we're taking a detour and adding some more km's!! We'll go via Bratislava and Zagreb, hitting both Slovakia and Hungary. I'm keen to pop round Lake Balaton again, that place is beautiful, but it's a long way East from the Adriatic.
We feel a little bit like wimps but we think this is the best course of action. Look out for our new route (which won't overlap the green) as it comes!
Geoff and Duncan
Friday, 24 April 2009
From Prague to Linz
We're in Austria now, after a couple of pretty exhausting days from Prague. First day from Prague was a smooth 116km, which slipped by almost without a breath. But, we forgot to eat and the next day, 90km to the border in the pissing rain for another session camping wild in the woods was a little trickier. To be honest, though, we've both been missing the peacefulness of the wild camping after 5 days in Prague with some tosser fiddling with plastic bags and padlocks every day at about 2am!
Still, on the second day we also forgot to eat, and so today, to Linz (65km) was really tough, even though it should have been a pile of piss. Our bodies are just totally drained of energy. We know it's the food because after a quick snack we get half an hour of power before slumping again. Something we really need to sort out.
Austrian countryside in Spring is absolutely amazing. 'Sound of Music' style amazing. Meadows of wild flowers, perfect roads with nothing but a couple of tractors, and stunning woods with glorious sunshine. Duncan has been particularly impressed with the locals, which are also of high quality. Linz, in particular, is a student town, and we sodding love it!
Still, on the second day we also forgot to eat, and so today, to Linz (65km) was really tough, even though it should have been a pile of piss. Our bodies are just totally drained of energy. We know it's the food because after a quick snack we get half an hour of power before slumping again. Something we really need to sort out.
Austrian countryside in Spring is absolutely amazing. 'Sound of Music' style amazing. Meadows of wild flowers, perfect roads with nothing but a couple of tractors, and stunning woods with glorious sunshine. Duncan has been particularly impressed with the locals, which are also of high quality. Linz, in particular, is a student town, and we sodding love it!
Tuesday, 21 April 2009
Some Nice Days Ahead
Just been planning the route through the Alps, we've got a few days like this ahead!
Monday, 20 April 2009
Duncan's Outrageous Behaviour
We were at a club one evening after a few drinks in Prague, but it was packed.
A girl keeps saying she's really thirsty, but the bar was completely rammed and she can't be arsed to queue. Eventually she submits.
Twenty five minutes later:
Andrea
"I can't believe I had to queue for so long to get my beer, never doing that again!"
Duncan
"Do you mind if I have a quick sip?"
Andrea
"Yeah, sure, no problem!"
Geoff
"That's a finish! Buffalo!!"
Duncan glugs deeply and polishes it off. He dumps the empty pint glass on the table in front of the girl. Then he looks a little peeky, looks like that pint is going to bounce! He runs off and we see him a bit later on, smelling slightly worse. The girl has since left Prague, thank god.
That guy is a liability.
Sunday, 19 April 2009
Some more Photos
Here Duncan is showing how much filth he managed to accumulate on his face after a gruelling 4.5 hour ride to Prague in the pouring rain. He stank of sewage.
Here is Geoff showing some good form with nice straight legs and a slow, deliberate action.
Duncan was feeling a little low after the comfort of Alana's mum's place, so I tried to cheer him up with a few sets of chins. The kids playing basketball were very impressed with our form.
Here is Geoff showing some good form with nice straight legs and a slow, deliberate action.Here are the offending bottles some time into our pre-gaming session for our big night out. As always, it started off as a joke in the supermarket ("Hey, why don't we each drink a bottle of vodka?") but naturally neither of us would show any weakness on the suggestion and we promptly squared them away back in the kitchen. We were smashed and the evening was quite eventful, read about it below in Duncan's post!
Standard dinner outside a supermarket. If only that weather held... Here we ate so many meatballs Duncan nearly chundered on the short 2km to the woods for some wild camping. The meatballs were disgusting too, but thankfully the smell of them was so bad it kept away the animals at night.
A nice Canard in a baguette. Standard fair, washed down with a bottle of the old vino tinto. The whole duck cost a mere 5 euros. Down she goes!
WHAT IS GEOFF DOING?? This is after the Boskov and Geoff was slightly worse for wear. Still, he seems to be enjoying himself and at least he slept in an actual bed unlike Duncan. Poor bastard, I asked to borrow his key because I'd lost mine in the bogs, and then locked him out and promptly dozed off. He slept on a sofa in the bar downstairs.
Czech Vodka
We have made it to Prague after 19 days on the road including rest days. Our last day from Plzen to Prague was cycled in the pouring rain which made it exceptionally miserable. It was so sodding cold that we did the whole 103km with only 5 mins break under a bridge. Cycling in the rain is not fun! We only have waterproof jackets so our legs get wet and then the water runs into our shoes so after about 10mins we could not feel our hands or feet. At one stage, Geoff's hand were so cold he couldn't change gear when a hill approached. Although the mud guards are quite good at stopping water getting on you, the person cycling behind gets constantly sprayed. Czech roads are not clean and as a result the spray coming from the bike in front smells of sewage.
Once in Prague we settled into the hostel and then hit the local supermarket for some sustenance and a bottle of rum costing less than 4 quid. The rum was down the hatch quite quickly along with some beers for a good 22 unit evening. The cycling seems to have really improved our alcohol metabolism as at 8am the next day we were up and ready to go with no side effects.
Last night was planned as a big one so we were a little bullish and purchased two bottles of Boskov Czech vodka. This was mixed in a 1 to 2 ratio with multi-fruit juice. These were squared away within an hour and a half. 20 shots each, fine. The next venue, Cross Club, is slightly hazy with some more beers and climbing over walls involved. Geoff's chat was not good, at one stage he was commenting on the child bearing qualities of a girls hips to her face. Once back in the hostel at 5am, Geoff locked me out of the room so a couple of hours on the sofa was all the sleep i got.
Duncan
Thursday, 16 April 2009
Sunburn and Headwinds
I think over the past few days we've over-baked it. My legs are smashed, my arm is absolutely bright red and radiates heat something chronic. The past few days we've been heading straight East into a prevailing headwind, which is seriously hard work and saps our stength. The panniers act like large square-rigged sails and crawling up a 600m peak really takes it out of us.
Normally I quite like the climbs, it gives you a boost when you scream downhill, a good view, and it's satisfying to boot. Now though, the downhills require power too, and breaking 25kph is an achievement. It makes the days longer as well. So, grinding down a peak on the granny-cog at 12kph isn't as fun as it used to be. No rest days now since Frankfurt, and we have averaged nearly 100km a day.
One more push to Prague tomorrow, and then we can take a few days as rest.
Past two days:
Nurnburg to Wild Camping: 115.6km
Wild Camping to Plzen: 91km
Tuesday, 14 April 2009
End of Day 16 - Nurnberg
A reasonably short day today to Nurnberg (81.2km), still got to cycle back to the campsite. For some reason all of our shorter days seem to be bloody difficult. Today it was a headwind and my bruised knee! The bruise was a result of the combination of a generous local in the restaurant last night who bought us some extra beers and shots and my damn pedals that i cant seem to get out of when i start to fall over.
Only three more 100km+ days cycling to Prague where we will let our legs recover and chill.
The night before last was spent in an awesome wild camping spot. We were however woken at about 3am by some really strange noises that sounded like they came from a big animal. We think it was a couple of wild boars mating. His stamina was impressive.
Today we managed to get in some much needed chin-ups as the past two weeks of calorie deficient days have caused our upper bodies to be metabolised directly into leg muscle. Pictures will follow but the kids in the playground were mocking us in our lycra bib-shorts!
Next three days:
Nurnberg to Wild Camping near Czech border: 95km assuming perfect nav
Czech Border to Plzen: 100km - CZECH REPUBLIC
Plzen to Prague: 95km
Perfect nav is extremely unlikely as we only have one sheet of A4 with a map 300km a side on it.
Off to the supermarket to get in as many calories as i can stomach after the 4 mini magnum icecreams, 2 pretzls, half a pack of meatballs and a twix i just ate. Today we burnt about 5000 calories. Need to try and eat 3000 in the next few hours. Eating is getting boring.
Duncan
Only three more 100km+ days cycling to Prague where we will let our legs recover and chill.
The night before last was spent in an awesome wild camping spot. We were however woken at about 3am by some really strange noises that sounded like they came from a big animal. We think it was a couple of wild boars mating. His stamina was impressive.
Today we managed to get in some much needed chin-ups as the past two weeks of calorie deficient days have caused our upper bodies to be metabolised directly into leg muscle. Pictures will follow but the kids in the playground were mocking us in our lycra bib-shorts!
Next three days:
Nurnberg to Wild Camping near Czech border: 95km assuming perfect nav
Czech Border to Plzen: 100km - CZECH REPUBLIC
Plzen to Prague: 95km
Perfect nav is extremely unlikely as we only have one sheet of A4 with a map 300km a side on it.
Off to the supermarket to get in as many calories as i can stomach after the 4 mini magnum icecreams, 2 pretzls, half a pack of meatballs and a twix i just ate. Today we burnt about 5000 calories. Need to try and eat 3000 in the next few hours. Eating is getting boring.
Duncan
Friday, 10 April 2009
The tour in photos
This is a typical view of the ground as we grind out a climb. Road-kill not only breaks up the monotony but also provides valuable protein to a hungry cyclist. This duck went well with a tin of sweetcorn.
Standard dinner. Here we'd just done our longest day, the 125km one, and I was tucking in nicely to some corned beef and a local beverage.
Here is Duncan showing the quality of food we enjoy. This was supposed to be tuna, but it had a thick layer of scum on the top which affected the flavour slightly.
Here we are at Hoegaarden outside what we thought was the brewery. Actually it was a fancy hotel and the brewery was closed further down the road. We got bored after an hour and cycled another 75km.
The sun was bright and I am squinting. That meal is a huge steak from a French kebab van. Cost €5.80 and was thick as a Yellow Pages. They love cyclists (or maybe just lycra) in France and we think we got a good deal!
This climb was massive. Went on into the distance and, although you can't tell from the photo, it was quite steep. Serious energy drain whipping up that one! Around the bend, there was an identical view and another moral-sapping climb. This time with snow. That day we climbed 1474m.
Map of current progress
Well, we're doing ok, but there is still a LONG way to go. It took about that much distance to break in our saddles, which are now extremely comfortable. There's a photo of them in one of the first posts. We went to a bike shop and felt some other Brooks saddles, and the titanium model was definately worth it. So much lighter.
It's got to the stage now that when we talk to people they think it's quite interesting that we've gone so far. Great for random encounters.
Frankfurt - Day 12
We're now in Frankfurt at Alana's mum's place, which is really nice. Neither of us had ever met her before and we just turned up at 1130 after an early start, stinking after a night in the woods. All our clothes were filthy, and Duncan refuses to shave off that ridiculous excuse for a beard, so he looked even more homeless. Still, she took us in, we showered, I shaved, and she even washed all our clothes (the stink coming from the groin of our cycling bib-shorts was INSANE. That woman is a saint). Then she took us out to a restaurant, refusing to let us pay our way. We felt guilty, we'd never met this woman before and I had absolutely no connection to her. Still, let the good times roll! Duncan right now is helping to teach a student with her so we're helping out where we can. Plus, obviously our dinner-time chat is priceless.
Past few days have been quite hard. Dunc and I have both been eating far too little and we think we've averaged a 3000 calorie a day deficit. Trouble is, we've allocated a 20 euro a day budget each, which includes campsite fees if we're not wild camping. This limits us to supermarket food.
The only food that's suitable without a stove is ham and bread and cold tinned food, so we've been getting thinner and thinner. Plus the mornings are generally freezing (our load-outs are designed for Greece and Egypt, but it isn't 40 degrees C yet!) so we want to get going ASAP, which means a small breakfast. I tried to deck a tin of corned beef the other day, but spoon after spoon of the stuff gets a little boring. I'm still waiting to buffalo Duncan on a 800g can of ravioli. Down she goes!!
All this means we've been hitting the wall earlier each day. Yesterday and the day before had some monster climbs too which just mashed up our legs. They feel like the cold ravioli we ate for dinner a few days ago. Like pasty ground-up meat mixed with rusk and barely a muscle-fibre to string it together. Cycling feels like we're cycling through treacle and it's made worse by the fact that the bikes are slowly deteriorating too. Strangely, though, morale is high, and after each climb you just have to laugh about how destroyed our bodies are!
This is what we've done each day so far:
Day 1: Calais to Saint-Omer. 55km - FRANCE
Day 2: Saint-Omer to Lille. 52km
Day 3: Rest day. 33km
Day 4: Lille to Oudenaart. 72km - BELGIUM
Day 5: Oudenaart to Brussels. 80km
Day 6: Brussels to Soumagne. 126.6km
Day 7: Rest day. 10km
Day 8: Soumagne to National Park. 98km - GERMANY
Day 9: Wild camping to Koblenz. 96.4km
Day 10: Koblenz to wild camping. 66.2km
Day 11: Wild camping to Bad Homburg. 56km
Day 12: Rest day in Bad Homburg.
Next few days:
Day 13: Rest day, a bit soft I know but we need it.
Day 14: Bad Homburg to Hafenlohr. 100km
Day 15: Hafenlohr to Scheinfeld. 80km
Day 16: Scheinfeld to Nurnberg. 65km
Day 17: Nurnberg to Irchenrieth. 95km
Day 18: Irchenrieth to Plzen. 100km - Czech Republic
Day 19: Plzen to Prague. 95km
That's our next milestone and we'll take a couple of days off there. Watch this space for a few photos! Oh, on Day 8 we climbed through the snow line on a monster 12km long climb! That was cool.
Past few days have been quite hard. Dunc and I have both been eating far too little and we think we've averaged a 3000 calorie a day deficit. Trouble is, we've allocated a 20 euro a day budget each, which includes campsite fees if we're not wild camping. This limits us to supermarket food.
The only food that's suitable without a stove is ham and bread and cold tinned food, so we've been getting thinner and thinner. Plus the mornings are generally freezing (our load-outs are designed for Greece and Egypt, but it isn't 40 degrees C yet!) so we want to get going ASAP, which means a small breakfast. I tried to deck a tin of corned beef the other day, but spoon after spoon of the stuff gets a little boring. I'm still waiting to buffalo Duncan on a 800g can of ravioli. Down she goes!!
All this means we've been hitting the wall earlier each day. Yesterday and the day before had some monster climbs too which just mashed up our legs. They feel like the cold ravioli we ate for dinner a few days ago. Like pasty ground-up meat mixed with rusk and barely a muscle-fibre to string it together. Cycling feels like we're cycling through treacle and it's made worse by the fact that the bikes are slowly deteriorating too. Strangely, though, morale is high, and after each climb you just have to laugh about how destroyed our bodies are!
This is what we've done each day so far:
Day 1: Calais to Saint-Omer. 55km - FRANCE
Day 2: Saint-Omer to Lille. 52km
Day 3: Rest day. 33km
Day 4: Lille to Oudenaart. 72km - BELGIUM
Day 5: Oudenaart to Brussels. 80km
Day 6: Brussels to Soumagne. 126.6km
Day 7: Rest day. 10km
Day 8: Soumagne to National Park. 98km - GERMANY
Day 9: Wild camping to Koblenz. 96.4km
Day 10: Koblenz to wild camping. 66.2km
Day 11: Wild camping to Bad Homburg. 56km
Day 12: Rest day in Bad Homburg.
Next few days:
Day 13: Rest day, a bit soft I know but we need it.
Day 14: Bad Homburg to Hafenlohr. 100km
Day 15: Hafenlohr to Scheinfeld. 80km
Day 16: Scheinfeld to Nurnberg. 65km
Day 17: Nurnberg to Irchenrieth. 95km
Day 18: Irchenrieth to Plzen. 100km - Czech Republic
Day 19: Plzen to Prague. 95km
That's our next milestone and we'll take a couple of days off there. Watch this space for a few photos! Oh, on Day 8 we climbed through the snow line on a monster 12km long climb! That was cool.
Tuesday, 7 April 2009
The Big Day
A couple of days back, we were cycling on an easy day, about 50k or so, and stopped in Hoegaarden to visit the Brewery.
Two hours later, after a couple of beers, we got a bit bored sitting there at about 3pm. It was a nice day, so we figured we'd have a look at the route ahead. One thing lead to another and 65k later we were approaching Liege, in the East of Belgium. We were a little puffed, to be honest, but we had a nice, long downhill into Liege.
At the bottom, we got a bit lost, so asked a bus conductor where Soumagne was. He thought about it for a bit, then went "ah! Soumagne! Au velo?" with a disbelieving look. I said yes, he laughed out loud, long and hard.
Turns out Souamagne is up a sodding great 10km 6% climb. We had no choice and just had to grind it down. We'd already carried our fully loaded bikes (including a shed-load of beers, a rotisserie chicken, a baguette, and a litre of juice, ON TOP of the full tour load-out) 115km and the hookers in the brothel windows on the N3 between Saint-Truedan and Liege were a distant memory. Still, we made it and had made up a day on the schedule.
Good phys.
The next day we took a rest day and went looking for a supermarket by foot. This turned into a 7 mile round trip, not great for the legs on a rest day!
Currently in Koblenz, nice place and still looking for somewhere to camp. German roads are awesome and I fully recommend cycle trips here.
Two hours later, after a couple of beers, we got a bit bored sitting there at about 3pm. It was a nice day, so we figured we'd have a look at the route ahead. One thing lead to another and 65k later we were approaching Liege, in the East of Belgium. We were a little puffed, to be honest, but we had a nice, long downhill into Liege.
At the bottom, we got a bit lost, so asked a bus conductor where Soumagne was. He thought about it for a bit, then went "ah! Soumagne! Au velo?" with a disbelieving look. I said yes, he laughed out loud, long and hard.
Turns out Souamagne is up a sodding great 10km 6% climb. We had no choice and just had to grind it down. We'd already carried our fully loaded bikes (including a shed-load of beers, a rotisserie chicken, a baguette, and a litre of juice, ON TOP of the full tour load-out) 115km and the hookers in the brothel windows on the N3 between Saint-Truedan and Liege were a distant memory. Still, we made it and had made up a day on the schedule.
Good phys.
The next day we took a rest day and went looking for a supermarket by foot. This turned into a 7 mile round trip, not great for the legs on a rest day!
Currently in Koblenz, nice place and still looking for somewhere to camp. German roads are awesome and I fully recommend cycle trips here.
Friday, 3 April 2009
Duncan's First Post
A quick note on the nature of the trip so far and the unnatural levels of testosterone. After five days we have still not had a hot meal, most meals consist of as many calories as we can buy for our money. Anything with less than 500 calories gets discarded. Most meals consist of a whole cooked chicken, ripped off the carcass and stuffed into a baguette, washed down by a few local beers and then followed by some kind of energy dense cake. Today we bought some carrots to add a litle vitamins but geoff couldnt eat it and instead went straight to the cake.
This trip seems to have turned in a massive fitness session with every opportunity for a little more exercise grabbed. While waiting at the cash machine geoff was doing calf raises.
The chat is awful. Topics of conversation include physical exercise (phys), our low levels of hygiene, beers and women.
About the trip, we are in Brussels after an 80km day. The weather is amazing, i have got a little sunburn. It is still a touch cold with both of us waking up at 4am every morning shivering. Our bodies will adapt so that is fine.
This trip seems to have turned in a massive fitness session with every opportunity for a little more exercise grabbed. While waiting at the cash machine geoff was doing calf raises.
The chat is awful. Topics of conversation include physical exercise (phys), our low levels of hygiene, beers and women.
About the trip, we are in Brussels after an 80km day. The weather is amazing, i have got a little sunburn. It is still a touch cold with both of us waking up at 4am every morning shivering. Our bodies will adapt so that is fine.
Wednesday, 1 April 2009
Lille
After a interesting couple of days, we have successfully arrived in Lille for our first rest day.
Day one had some highs and lows. High in that we made it to France, low in that we had some difficulties. Duncan almost missed the train to Dover, smashing in an old lady in the process of boarding - then IGNORING her injuries. We then missed the stop for the connecting train so had to backtrack. Finally, we spent so long stuffing KFC into our eager mouths that we missed the final boarding for the ferry. Duncan's smooth chat managed to get us aboard.
So far so good.
Driven by our target of Saint-Omer for the night, we gleefully cycled past five campsites. In Saint-Omer there were none, so like true heroes we pressed on to find some wild camping. This proved trickier than expected, and following a turn-down from a feral farmer we kipped under a bridge on an old railway line just as it was turning dark at about 8:30.
Then it got cold, so cold that we probably burnt more calories shivering in our sleeping bags (you'll see a photo later about how hilariously thin they are) than we did cycling there. The fact that we'd had no food probably didn't help matters.
Woken by glorious sunshine and truck noise from the overhead bridge, the next day was a lot better. Lessons learnt and tonight we are camping properly. One last thing, the Brooks are breaking us in, not the other way around.
Day one had some highs and lows. High in that we made it to France, low in that we had some difficulties. Duncan almost missed the train to Dover, smashing in an old lady in the process of boarding - then IGNORING her injuries. We then missed the stop for the connecting train so had to backtrack. Finally, we spent so long stuffing KFC into our eager mouths that we missed the final boarding for the ferry. Duncan's smooth chat managed to get us aboard.
So far so good.
Driven by our target of Saint-Omer for the night, we gleefully cycled past five campsites. In Saint-Omer there were none, so like true heroes we pressed on to find some wild camping. This proved trickier than expected, and following a turn-down from a feral farmer we kipped under a bridge on an old railway line just as it was turning dark at about 8:30.
Then it got cold, so cold that we probably burnt more calories shivering in our sleeping bags (you'll see a photo later about how hilariously thin they are) than we did cycling there. The fact that we'd had no food probably didn't help matters.
Woken by glorious sunshine and truck noise from the overhead bridge, the next day was a lot better. Lessons learnt and tonight we are camping properly. One last thing, the Brooks are breaking us in, not the other way around.
Saturday, 28 March 2009
Bike Finished - What We Will Live On
Here is the bike ready to tour. Almost all the weight is over the rear wheel and the centre of gravity is somewhere just in front of the rear axle. Good for downhill braking, bad for uphills and rear wheel fatigue and spoke damage. Also, I couldn't get the peddles off my road bike (after all those miles they are practically welded to the crank now), so looks like I'm stuck with those stock ones until I hit a bike shop in France somewhere.
Duncan wasn't willing to spend as much money, so he's gone for a cheaper bike he got from the local Poundshop. Also, he likes his home comforts so he's packed a little heavier.
This is the Brooks B17 saddle which I'm a little nervous about. It's brand new, as hard as carved wood and totally unforgiving. Still, the titanium model is a third the weight of the steel one, and also is far more flexible. We didn't go for sprung saddles due to the energy loss as you power down on the peddle, trading speed for comfort. All the research we've done says that this thing will be as comfortable as hell, after a month.
These are our Schwalbe Marathon Plus tyres. These cost almost a hundred quid for the complete set, but they are apparently almost totally puncture proof. They have over doubled our spun weight on the bike so they'd better be worth it, or those slow starts at the traffic lights will all be for nothing. They are also wider than the stock tyres, so a lot of tweaking was needed to fit the mud guards around them. They just about spin now, but really we need to get some miles on these things to make them a bit smaller. 700x28C.
Here is the attachment for the handlebar bag. This thing is absolutely solid and the bag fits really well, dead chuffed with this. It'll hold snacks and maps and maybe some pepper spray to deter dogs!
This is my road bike for comparison. The geometry is quite different, the groupset is a mix of 105's and Ultegra depending on how important the part is, and it weighs about half as much! Really I should have just fitted a rack to it, but I'd be paranoid about smashing this up. The bike up top is almost disposable for this tour.
Friday, 27 March 2009
Here is our planned route, it unfortunately misses a few countries due to visa issues or dodgy access (Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Algeria, Jordon). I, frankly, was keen to check out some of Israel but it turns out cycling into it is a bit tricky, some of the borders aren't so fluid as we're used to in Europe! I'll try and work in an image on the title to illustrate how far we've gone each update.
Equipment and Route
Welcome to Duncan and Geoff's blog, which we'll update as we go along our tour each week or so, whenever we can get internet access. Some details about the trip:
1. We are going on a cycling tour across Europe and around the Mediterranean Sea, which will be about 10,000km long and take approximately 4 months.
2. Neither of us have done anything so large-scale before. This trip covers twenty countries.
3. We planned this trip in a week, and we're camping almost every night (once a week hostel for washing, internet, and charging electronics). In fact, everybody we spoke to from bike shops thought we were insane, most people plan for ages.
Today, Duncan and I have just finished assembling and tweaking our bikes. We have a few initial observations:
1. The brand-spanking new Brooks B17 saddle, which takes months to break in apparently, is actually already fairly comfortable! All that leather treatment was a good idea, and those beasts will last us well! £100 well spent, lets hope the titanium rails weren't a waste of money, they better soak up those bumps, because nothing else will.
2. My cheap panniers fit like a glove, and I get the feeling they'll be weatherproof to boot.
3. The light, almost racing, bikes we bought are very quick and should be better than the traditional steel tourers, as long as the carbon forks don't shatter on us on a downhill (I've taped mine up to help prevent scratches).
We are finalising the equipment lists for each of us, and plan to depart on Monday 30th. The first few days will average a mere 60km, but we're hoping to double that up after 10 days. Total rolling weight (excluding us) is under 30 kgs each, so it's fairly light for such a long trip.
You can look forward to some quality photos and, if we're lucky, maybe some quality banter too!
Geoff
1. We are going on a cycling tour across Europe and around the Mediterranean Sea, which will be about 10,000km long and take approximately 4 months.
2. Neither of us have done anything so large-scale before. This trip covers twenty countries.
3. We planned this trip in a week, and we're camping almost every night (once a week hostel for washing, internet, and charging electronics). In fact, everybody we spoke to from bike shops thought we were insane, most people plan for ages.
Today, Duncan and I have just finished assembling and tweaking our bikes. We have a few initial observations:
1. The brand-spanking new Brooks B17 saddle, which takes months to break in apparently, is actually already fairly comfortable! All that leather treatment was a good idea, and those beasts will last us well! £100 well spent, lets hope the titanium rails weren't a waste of money, they better soak up those bumps, because nothing else will.
2. My cheap panniers fit like a glove, and I get the feeling they'll be weatherproof to boot.
3. The light, almost racing, bikes we bought are very quick and should be better than the traditional steel tourers, as long as the carbon forks don't shatter on us on a downhill (I've taped mine up to help prevent scratches).
We are finalising the equipment lists for each of us, and plan to depart on Monday 30th. The first few days will average a mere 60km, but we're hoping to double that up after 10 days. Total rolling weight (excluding us) is under 30 kgs each, so it's fairly light for such a long trip.
You can look forward to some quality photos and, if we're lucky, maybe some quality banter too!
Geoff
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